TOWNSVILLES dengue risk will be swatted down with the field trial of a revolutionary biological control measure.

There have been nine cases of dengue fever in the city since an outbreak was declared on February 14, but with recent rainfall there are fears numbers could spike.

The Eliminate Dengue project is an international collaboration led by Melbourne’s Monash University and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The program involves introducing the naturally occurring Wolbachia bacterium, which stops the mozzies from being able to transmit the dengue virus to humans.

The Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are exposed to the bacterium in a laboratory and are then released with the trait passed on as the insects breed.

Monash University researchers have been conducting trials since 2011 in Cairns, Vietnam and Indonesia with the successful project now to be extended to Townsville after a $1.05 million grant by the Queensland Department of Health.

THEIR days on the court may be over but former Townsville Fire players Aneka Davis, Cherie Gallagher and Julia Duroux will be cheering from the sideline when the team takes on Bendigo in the grand final.